Felt base floor covering and method of making the same



Jan. 6, 1953 E. HAZELTINE, JR 2,624,632

FELT BASE FLOOR COVERING AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME.

Filed Jan. 24, 1951 INVENTOR JAMES E. HAZELTINE, JR

ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 6, 1953 ATENT QFFICE FELT BASE FLOUR COVERING ANDMETHOD 6F ltiAKING THE SAME Application .lanuary 2 1951, Serial No.207,576

6 Claims.

This application is a continuation-in-part of my copending applicationSerial No. 80,78 filed March 10, 1949.

This invention relates to felt base floor coverings. More particularly,the invention relates to an improved felt base floor covering having adecorative wearing surface containing a vinyl resin produced bydepositing a thin film of vinyl resin onto a carrier which may be asaturated felt coated with a composition containing a filler andselected resins and rubberlike polymers.

Felt base floor coverings are well-known to the art and, generallyspeaking, they comprise a saturated felt backing, a seal coat, and apaint film which serves as both a decorative and wearing surface. Onewidely used method of producing such floor coverings involves the stepsof face-coating a saturated felt sheet with a coating paint by means ofa knife or other suitable apparatus to provide what is known in the artas a seal coat. Following the application of the seal coat, the materialis passed through a block printing apparatus. The blocks are dipped intoa container of decorative material, and various designs are applied bymeans of the blocks to the coated felt base. Following the applicationof the decorative coating, the material is suspended in stoves to drythe paint film. The paints employed, because of the manner in which theyare applied, are called print paints; and in the art the goods are knownas printed felt base goods.

Various coatings have been used for decorating the surface of aseal-coated saturated felt. Generally speaking, these coatings areconventional print paints containing the desired color pigment and adrying oil-resin type vehicle. These drying oil-resin type vehicles havefound wide use in the production of printed felt base goods, but untilthe invention of this application there have been no block printed feltbase goods containing a pigmented vinyl resin decorative coating. Whileit has been recognized that vinyl resins do provide highly desirableproperties as a print paint for felt base goods, attempts to producesuch products by the conventional block printing techniques have metwith no success. One reason for this lack of success has been theunavailability of a composition which could be applied by conventionalblock printing apparatus.

Another reason for the lack of success has been that decorative coatingscontaining vinyl resins have not adhered well to the seal coats appliedto the saturated felt backings.

I have found that printed felt base floor coverings may be produced byconventional block printing techniques when a particular type of vinylresin dispersion is employed as a decorative coating over a speciallyprepared seal coat containing a mixture of selected rubberlike polymersand selected vinyl polymers to which have been added selected amounts offiller materials.

The figure of the drawing is illustrative of a floor covering preparedin accordance with my invention. In the drawing, l represents a sheet ofsaturated felt to which has been applied, by means of a knife coater orany other suitable device, a filled coating paint 2, which will be morefully described below. Over the coating paint is printed a decorativevinyl resin containing wearing surface 3.

In accordance with my invention, any raw felt suitable for use in theproduction of printed felt base floor coverings can be saturated withany of a number of saturants, including asphalt and synthetic rubber,such as a butadiene-styrene copolymer, chloroprene polymers, and thelike. Such saturated felts may be prepared by passing a sheet of the rawfelt through a tank containing the saturant; or if desired, the saturantmay be deposited upon the fibers in a beater in accordance withwell-known beater saturating techniques. The use of beater saturation isparticularly desirable when the saturant is a rubberlike material, suchas a rubberlike butadiene-styrene copolymer. After saturation of thefelt material and drying of the saturant by conventional means, the sealcoat is then applied. Generally speaking, this is done by passing thesaturated felt through a knife-coating apparatus, though if desired,other coating methods may be used. The intermediate or seal coatadvantageously contains an inherently tacky compound, which serves toenhance adhesion between the coating paint and the saturated felt, and areinforcing agent, which is a. resinous vinyl type polymer and whichserves to build up the internal strength of the coating paint, andbecause of chemical similarities to the vinyl resin wearing surface, toenhance adhesion between the seal coat and the wearing surface; Ifdesired, in order to improve the appearance of the product, a smoothingcoat, which may be an oleo-resinous binder mixed with filler andpigments, may be interposed between the saturated felt and the sealcoat. The seal coat also contains an excess of filler material toenhance the laminate strength by affording a microscopically roughenedsurface. Such seal coats are described and claimed in copendingapplication Serial No.

207,587, filed January 24, 1951, by Irving I. Bezman and Daniel D,Browning, and now abandoned. Generally speaking, the seal coat containsabout 20% to about 50% of a rubberlike component admixed with a vinylresin reinforcing agent together with about 80% to about 50% of an inertfiller. The binder or rubber-resin mixture advantageously contains about50 to about 80% rubberlike polymer and about 50% to 20% reinforcingresin. If less than about 50% rubber-like polymer is employed, the sealcoat does not key Well to the saturated felt base. If less than about20% reinforcing resin is contained in the coating paint which forms aseal coat, a good key between the paint and the particular vinyl resindecorative coat is not obtained. It is also desirable toutilize aquantity of inert filler which is no less than about 50% by weight ofthe coating paint composition. If less than about 50% filler isemployed, the desired tooth or mechanical bond-between the seal coat andadjacent surface isnot'obtained. When more than about'80% filler isemployed, the seal coat possesses very little internalstrength. Typicalexamples of tackifiers and reinforcing agents which may be used informing the seal coat are as follows:

1. A styrene-butadiene copolymer containing 30-60 parts of styrene and70-40 parts-of butadiene.

2. An acrylonitrile-butadiene copolymer containing 55-80 parts ofbutadiene and 45-20 parts of acrylonitrile.

3. An isobutylene-isoprene copolymer containing 97-99'parts ofisobutyle'newith 3-1 parts of isoprene.

4. A polychloroprene.

B. Reinforcing agents 1. Polyvinyl chloride.

2. A copolymer of polyvinyl chloride and polyvinyl acetate containing95-80 parts of polyvinyl chloride with 5-20 par-ts of polyvinyl acetate.

3. A polyvinyl chloride-polyvinylidene chloride copolymer containing amajority of polyvinylidene chloride.

4. A styrene-butadiene copolymer containing 98-80 parts of styrene with2-20 parts of butadiene.

5. Polystyrene.

In each instance-about one to three parts of an inert filler, such aswood 'fiour, micronized slate, whiting, clay, andthelike, are-employedfor each one part of the binder or resin-rubberlike polymer mixture..Itisbeheved that the binder may be described as amixture of rubberlikepolymer tackifier and a vinyl resin reinforcing agent.

After application of the seal coat to the saturated felt backing, theresulting material is then passed under a series of printing blockswhich apply the decorative wearing surface in any desired pattern. .Inorder to ,print a pattern upon theseal-coated saturated felt base, itisnecessary that certain conditions beobserved in the production of thedecorative surface coating. Typical of a vinyl resin print paintpossessing the required properties are those described and claimed in myabove referred to copending application Serial No. 80,781, filed 'March'10, '1949. The basic or film-forming ingredient of the print paintemployed in the production of the floor covering of my invention may bea virtually insoluble or dif- 'pearance and wearing properties.

ficultly soluble vinyl resin such as the delta and gamma polyvinylchlorides. It is also possible to utilize the more soluble vinyl resins,such as beta polyvinyl chloride, a copolymer of vinyl chloride, andvinyl acetate which has average molecular weights above 16,000 asdetermined by Staudingers method and containing vinyl chloride in therange of about 90% to 9'7 by weight, as well as copolymers of vinylchloride and dibutyl maleate, ethyl acrylate, methyl acrylate, butylacrylate, methyl methacrylate, and butyl methacrylate, all containingsubstantially the same amount of combined vinyl chloride and having thesame average molecular weight. In addition, copolymers of vinyl chlorideand acrylonitrile containing to 80% vinyl chloride may also be used, aswell as certain copolymers of vinyl chloride and vinylidene chloride.All of the resins mentioned hereinabove may be characterized as vinylresins which are substantially insoluble in toluene at 25 C. In otherwords, toluene in the ratio of ten parts of toluene to one part of resinwill extract a fraction amounting to no more than 15% of the entireresin. The term vinyl chloride resin is used herein to define thesetoluene-insoluble resins.

A nonaqueous dispersion of minutely subdivided vinyl chloride resinparticles may be prepared by dispersing them in a nonaqueous medium containing a small amount of-a butylated urea-formaldehyde resin or othersuitable dispersing agent. By such a method it is possible to producedispersions of vinyl chloride polymer resins of relatively low viscosityand low content of volatile material in which the vinyl chloride polymeris present in an amount in excess of by Weight. Generally speaking, fromabout 0.5% to 2.5% by weight of the butylated urea-formaldehyde resinbased on the vinyl chloride resin is employed ll'l producing a resindispersion suitable for application to floor coverings by the blockprinting technique. There are other ways, of course, of 0btaining thedesired viscosity in the vinyl chloride polymer suspensions. However, inorder to be useful in the practice of my invention, the vinyl chloridepolymer resin dispersion must be characterized by a viscosity index ofnot less than 1.67 when not more than 5% of volatile material is presentin said dispersion. A dispersion so characterized may be block printedto form a smooth decorative wearin surface with satisfactory ap- Alldispersions of vinyl chloride polymer resins that have viscosity indicesof less than 1.67 with 5% volatile material present, or those thatrequire the addition of more than 5% volatile material to attain aviscosity indexof at least 1.67, are unsuitable for block printingdecorative wearing surfaces. The

dispersions'employed'in the practice of my invention permit thedeposition of thicker wear film and, in a multicolor printing operation,permit varying the viscosity of the dispersion over a wide range,thereby facilitating the production of printed designs with clean sharpoutlines. Disv persions outside of the scope of the definitionhereinabove require excessive amounts (more than 40%) of volatilematerial in order to secure a smooth, level, printedsurface, and theviscosity of such dispersions willbe so low that additional quantitiesof volatile material will not eilect a sufficiently marked lowering ofviscosity to permit the last down color in a multicolor printingoperation to transfer properly from the printing block. As a result. theprinted design will be "fuzzy and will have an unsatisfactory "sm-earedappearance.

As used herein, the term viscosity index is the slope of the curve whichis obtained when the deflections shown on a variable speed standardmodel Brookfleld synchro-electric viscosimeter are plotted as abscissaeagainst the revolutions per minute required to produce the deflectionsas ordinates. The deflections may be measured with any suitable spindle,but the data are plotted on the basis of the deflections that would beobtained, actually or theoretically, on the No. '7 spindle. Deflectionsare measured at spindle speeds of 2, 4, 10, and revolutions per minute,while the dispersion is at a temperature of C. The wellknown techniquesspecified for use in measuring viscosities with the Brookfieldsynchro-electric viscosimeter are applied to obtain the data requiredfor determining the viscosity indices of the vinyl chloride polymerresin dispersions.

A typical formulation which may be used in the practice of my inventionis as follows:

EXAMPLE I Parts by weight Titanium dioxide pigment 80 Lead ohromatepigment 16 Dioctyl phthalate plasticizer 136 Vinyl chloride vinylacetate copolymer resin 41o Mineral spirits 110 Butylatedurea-formaldehyde resin 13.8

(69% solids in -50 butanol xylene) The titanium dioxide and leadchroinate serve as coloring matter for the coating dispersion and thedioctyl phthalate as a plasticizer for the vinyl copolymer, the latterserving as the filmforming resin.

It should be recognized that other well-known plasticizers of vinylresins may be employed in lieu of that designated in the above example.Typical examples of plasticizing material are as follows: dioctylphthalate, dibutyl sebacate, diallyl phthalate, di-butoxy ethylphthalate, tricresyl phosphate, and di-capryl sebacate. Other viscosityreducing agents than the butylated urea-formaldehyde resin may beemployed, such as the alkyl aryl polyether alcohols.

In some instances, it may be desirable to add additional ingredients tothe decorative surface coating material so that the tendency of thematerial to crack on drying is reduced. Chlorinated paraifins orchlorinated biphenyls may be added to such compositions and smallamounts of various alkyd resins, such as a long oil soybean oil modifiedpentaerythritol-phthalic acid polyester, may also be used. The typicalformulation containing such modifiers is illustrated in the followingexample:

EXAMPLE II Parts by weight Pigment 292 Polyvinyl chloride resin 1000Heat stabilizer 20 Chlorinated parafiin 100 Plasticizer .333 Butylatedurea-formaldehyde resin 2-5 solids in bi-flash naphtha).

Alkyd resin solids in mineral spirits) l2 Mineral spirits 318 Followingapplication of the decorative wearing surface by means of the blockprinting tech nique, the resulting product is then subjected to 6temperatures sufficiently high to fuse the resin decorative coating. Oneadvantageous method of obtaining the desired fusion involves passing theprinted material beneath a source of infra-red radiation. However, othermethods of fusing the coating may be employed.

While particularly effective results have been obtained in the practiceof my invention by utilizing a saturated felt sheet to which has beenapplied a seal coat such as that described hereinabove, it is alsowithin the scope of my invention to produce a floor covering by blockprinting the decorative wearing surface on any sheet which issufliciently smooth to meet the requirements of the floor covering art.For example, if desired, the felt may be calendered to render thesurface smooth enough to receive the film of vinyl chloride resincontaining the decorative colors. On the other hand, a thin film ofpaper or other material may be applied to the saturated felt backing toprovide the desired smooth surface. However, generally speaking, it isadvantageous to utilize a seal coat such as that described above becauseof the more convenient manner of application and because of the strongbond maintained between the saturated felt backing and the decorativevinyl resin wearing surface through the seal coating materials.

I claim:

1. A method of making a floor or Wall covering comprising seal coating asheet ofsaturated felt material with a composition containing atackifier of the group consisting of styrene-butadiene copolymers,acrylonitrile-butadiene copolymers, isobutylene-isoprene copolymers, andpolychloroprene, and a reinforcing agent of the group con sisting ofpolyvinyl chloride, copolymers of polyvinyl chloride and polyvinylacetate, copolymers of polyvinyl chloride and polyvinylidene chloride,styrene-butadiene copolymers, and polystyrene, block printing onto theresulting seal coat a plurality of color areas of a decorativecomposition containing a dispersion of vinyl resin having a viscosityindex of at least 1.67 when not more than 5% volatile material ispresent therein, whereby said color areas will flow out on said sealcoat to produce a sharply-defined pattern, and heating the resultingcoated product until the vinyl resin contained in the coating materialis fused, said viscosity index being the slope of the curve which isobtained when the deflections shown on a variable speed standard modelBrookfield synchro-electric viscosimeter are plotted as abscissaeagainst the revolutions per minute required to produce the deflectionsas ordinates, the deflections being measured at spindle speeds of 2, 4,10, and 20 revolutions per minute, while the dispersion is at atemperature of 25 C.

2. The product of the process of claim 1.

3. A method of making a floor or wall covering comprising seal coating asheet of bituminous saturated felt material with a compositioncontaining a tackifier of the group consisting of styrene-butadienecopolymers, acrylonitrile-butadiene copolymers, isobutylene-isoprenecopolymers, and polychloroprene, and a reinforcing agent of the groupconsisting of polyvinyl chloride, copolymers of polyvinyl chloride andpolyvinyl acetate, copolymers of polyvinyl chloride and polyvinylidenechloride, styrene-butadiene copolymers, and polystyrene, block printingonto the resulting seal coat a plurality of color areas of a decorativecomposition containing a dispersion of polyvinyl chloride having aviscosity index of at least 1.67 when not more than volatile material ispresent therein, whereby said color areas will flow out on said sealcoat to produce a. sharply-defined pattern, and passing the resultingcoated product beneath a source of infrared radiation to fuse thepolyvinyl chloride contained in the coating material, said viscosityindex being the slope of the curve which is obtained when thedeflections shown on a variable speed standard model Brookfieldsynchro-electric viscosimeter are plotted as abscissae against therevolutions per minute required to produce the deflections as ordinates,the deflections being measured at spindle speeds of 2, 4, 10, and 20revolutions per minute, While the dispersion is at a temperature of 25C.

4. A method of making a floor or wall covering comprising coating asheet of saturated felt with a composition containing a rubberlikepolymer of butadiene with acrylonitrile and polyvinyl chloride, dryingthe resulting coating, block printing onto said dried coat a pluralityof color areas of a decorative composition containing a dispersion ofpolyvinyl chloride having a viscosity index of at least 1.67 when notmore than 5% volatile material is present therein, whereby said colorareas will flow out on said seal coat to produce a sharply-definedpattern, heating the resulting coated product until the polyvinylchloride contained in the coating material is fused,

said viscosity index being the slope of the curve which is obtained whenthe deflections shown on a variable speed standard model Brookfieldsynchro-electric viscosimeter are plotted as abscissae against therevolutions per minute required to produce the deflections as ordinates,the deflections being measured at spindle speeds of 2, 4, 10, and 20revolutions per minute, while the dispersion is at a temperature of 25C.

5. The product of the method of claim 4.

6. A method of making a floor or wall covering comprising seal coating asheet of saturated felt material with a composition containing arubberlike polymer of butadiene with acrylonitrile and polyvinylchloride, block printing onto the resulting seal coat a plurality ofcolor areas of a decorative composition containing a dispersion of vinylchloride polymer resin provided with about 0.5% to 2.5% by Weight ofbutylated urea-formaldehyde resin based on the vinyl chloride resin andhaving a viscosity index of at least 1.67 when not more than 5% volatilematerial is present therein, whereby said color areas will flow out onsaid seal coat to produce a pattern, and heating the resulting coatedproduct until the vinyl chloride polymer resin contained in the coatingmaterial is fused, said viscosity index being the slope of the curvewhich is obtained when the deflections shown on a variable speedstandard model Brookfield synchro-electric viscosimeter are plotted asabscissae against the revolutions per minute required to produce thedeflections as ordinates, the deflections being measured at spindlespeeds of 2, 4, 10, and revolution per min ute, While the dispersion isat a temperature of C.

JAMES E. HAZELTINE, JR.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,133,886 Beegle et a1 Oct. 18,1938 2,330,353 Henderson Sept. 28, 1943 2,364,172 Stauffer Dec. 5, 19442,431,745 Flanagan Dec. 2, 1947 2,487,060 Pike et al Nov. 8, 19492,491,923 Johnson Dec. 20, 1949 2,529,799 Crockett Nov. 14, 1950

1. A METHOD OF MAKING A FLOOR OF WALL COVERING COMPRISING SEAL COATING ASHEET OF SATURATED FELT MATERIAL WITH A COMPOSITION CONTAINING ATACKIFIER OF THE GROUP CONSISTING OF STYRENE-BUTADIENE COPOLYMERS,ACRYLONITRILE-BUTADIENE COPOLYMERS, ISOBUTYLENE-ISOPRENE COPOLYMERS, ANDPOLYCHLOROPRENE, AND A REINFORCING AGENT OF THE GROUP CONSISTING OFPOLYVINYL CHLORIDE, COPOLYMERS OF POLYVINYL CHLORIDE AND POLYVINYLACETATE, COPOLYMERS OF POLYVINYL CHLORIDE AND POLYVINYLIDENE CHLORIDE,STYRENE-BUTADIENE COPOLYMERS, AND POLYSTYRENE, BLOCK PRINTING ONTO THERESULTING SEAL COAT A PLURALITY OF COLOR AREAS OF A DECORATIVECOMPOSITION CONTAINING A DISPERSION OF VINYL RESIN HAVING A VISCOSITYINDEX OF AT LEAST 1.67 WHEN NOT MORE THAN 5% VOLATILE MATERIAL ISPRESENT THEREIN, WHEREBY SAID COLOR AREAS WILL FLOW OUT ON SAID SEALCOAT TO PRODUCE A SHARPLY-DEFINED PATTERN, AND HEATING THE RESULTINGCOATED PRODUCT UNTIL THE VINYL RESIN CONTAINED IN THE COATING MATERIALIS FUSED, SAID VISCOSITY INDEX BEING THE SLOPE OF THE CURVE WHICH ISOBTAINED WHEN THE DEFLECTIONS SHOWN ON A VARIABLE SPEED STANDARD MODELBROOKFIELD SYNCHRO-ELECTRIC VISCOSIMETER ARE PLOTTED AS ABSCISSUEAGAINST THE REVOLUTIONS PER MINUTE REQUIRED TO PRODUCE TO DEFLECTIONS ASORDINATES, THE DEFLECTIONS BEING MEASURED AT SPINDLE SPEEDS OF 2,4,10,AND 20 REVOLUTIONS PER MINUTE, WHILE THE DISPERSION IS AT A TEMPERATUREOF 25* C.